


Wild Card: Return to Start

by brawltogethernow



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: (that's ygo canon I don't make the rules), Canon - Manga, Early Series, Friendship, Friendship is Magic, Gen, In Medias Res, Now With More Demonic Possession, Peggy Sue, Post-Series, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-03-22 19:47:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13771242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brawltogethernow/pseuds/brawltogethernow
Summary: Jounouchi accidentally time travels. Many lunches are shared.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At its heart this is more about exploring this premise, and pretty haphazardly at that, than resolving it.

Jounouchi dashes down the sidewalk, even though it’s not like he has any idea where to go to fix this. But it’s being frantic in the general direction of the universe that he crashes bodily into Yugi.

The other guy was shuffling along with his gaze on the ground in front of his feet, holding onto his overstuffed backpack looking like it was about to topple him over where it was slung over one shoulder, and he doesn’t look up until his nose is squashing up against Jounouchi’s ribs.

Jounouchi sputters an undignified non-word and catches Yugi by the shoulders before he can faceplant. Yugi weighs almost nothing, but when you add the backpack, Jounouchi is steadying _about_ a million pounds, if you want his expert estimation. But _boy_ is it good to see Yugi.

Yugi looks up, looking dazed, recognizes who he’s bumped into, and flinches.

“Ah, Jounouchi-kun!” he stutters out, voice high and panicky. “I-I’m sorry!” He waves his hands in desperately placating denial. “I didn’t mean to walk into you!” His eyes cast around like they’re being repelled from Jounouchi’s face by a magnet. “I-I’ll just go.”

Eyes focused somewhere across the street, he hunches up his shoulders and starts a hasty slouch away.

Jounouchi calls out to him. Maybe he shouldn’t, but he just can’t not. “Hey, wait!”

Yugi turns around with a fearful look that _hurts._

Jounouchi takes a breath and steels himself. He’s faced worse than this, barely, and done things magnitudes less easy. “Do you want me to take you out for a burger?”

⏳

It took Jounouchi most of the morning to figure it out. He woke up on Thursday, a bit late, pelted through his paper route and then down to school, then got turned away at the doors told it was Sunday and he wasn’t supposed to be there. (His father hadn’t stopped him; he was always passed out in the mornings.) So that was weird, but people get confused sometimes, right? It was funny, and yay, no school. But slouching outside of the high school gates where he wasn’t supposed to be, he finally had a minute to acknowledge that the weather was weird. Like, summer-in-winter weird. He hadn’t brought a jacket or anything because none of his winter stuff had been where he’d thought it was, but it wasn’t looking like he’d need one.

He hadn’t seen any of the guys on his way either, which should have at least tipped him off that it was Sunday. But...

It was still weird. He just had this weird feeling, like. Hollowness. Like he was missing something.

And then he actually checked the dates on some of the papers he had left over from his route and.

Well.

Fuck.

The weather wasn’t weird. He was weird. A couple _years_ weird, what the heck was happening, was this before he’d befriended _any_ of his current friends but Honda?

And that had been about as far as he’d got in thinking through this when he took off for the sake of it and smacked into the vintage version of his best friend.

⏳

At first Yugi is twitchy and confused, but he warms up quickly the longer things go without Jounouchi springing a trap. He was always trusting and optimistic — that’s what makes him so easy to trick.

He looks — Jounouchi hadn’t even noticed before — tired, strung out in a way Yugi hasn’t in long enough Jounouchi barely remembers it.

Matter of fact, there are a lot of things different about Yugi that must have shifted so slowly he never really noticed, held up in plain contrast now. Jounouchi catalogues the little changes he hadn’t noticed. Yug’ was definitely a high-voiced guy, but it wasn’t _this_ high anymore, for sure. His hair is in its usual _incredibly_ distinct style, but his bangs look kind of loose and greasy.

But one thing hasn’t changed: Yugi is the smartest, most reliable guy Jounouchi knows. Not even losing their friendship could change that.

“Say, Y-Yugi? I’d like your opinion about...uh, a game.”

Yugi perks up immediately. “A game?”

There’s not a trace of suspicion this could be a trap anymore. Which it _isn’t_ , but...geez. From Yug’s perspective Jounouchi had been whaling on him probably _yesterday._

“Yeah, so um... In this game. After he wins, the protagonist — well, I guess he’s a side character, if I’m honest.” And that hurt to admit. “He gets sent back to the start of the game.”

Yugi’s eyes are wide. “Is this a video game?” He thinks and before Jounouchi can answer amends, “A tabletop campaign?”

Jounouchi shudders at the memory of an all-to-real TRPG or two. “Yeah, something like that. So, everybody else is the same as they were when the game started.... Er, before, really —”

Yugi is nodding in comprehension. “So the player character has to decide how to act on his foreknowledge! Wow! That’s a really cool premise! But what did you want my help with, Jounouchi-kun?”

“Um, I’m just not sure...what would be the best way to play a game like that? Like, whaddayou even do?”

Yugi blinks at him. “Was it a good game? Would you mind playing through it again?”

Jounouchi feels his expression melt into something warm and soft and sappy. “Y-yeah. It was the best game. I don’t regret a second of it, except that I couldn’t do more.”

Yugi nods more, with such enthusiasm that he topples the table’s mustard bottle and the ketchup packets he grabbed and was stacking into some kind of tiny maze and sends condiments squirting over the table. “Well, if it’s like that, you should spend your second playthrough making it even better! Make contact with allies sooner, set it up so you can get more artifacts.... You know, for bonuses!”

“Pfschh, yeah. Hey, Yug!”

Yugi flinches at the other boy’s sudden boisterous tone. “Uh, y-yes, Jounouchi-k-kun?”

“We should do this again sometime! Make a thing of it!”

“A, a burger thing?”

“Yeah, and talking about games. Hey, how about you bring one next time?” Did he already know Yugi lived in a game shop at this point? Yeah, he definitely had. Not that he’d need to to assume he’d have something; Yugi used to bring small games to class all the time before things changed so that he always had people to talk to. (And then he’d bring things in to share with them.)

Yugi lights up like Jounouchi made his whole world.

Jounouchi flutters, but also feels guilty at making his bud’s day like that, with something so small.

⏳

It’s sunset, gold beams lancing through gaps between buildings right into the eyes. Jounouchi walks Yugi home. (“There are toughs and gang members all over the place! Trust me!” _And you don’t have your other self — ah, Atem — to help you right now._ ) Yugi mutters excitedly to himself and skips around in happy little gambols. Man, Jounouchi forgot how he was before acquiring some of the poise and balanced calm Atem brought to the table.

At no particular cue, Yugi spins around to walk backwards and ask Jounouchi, “So — did I help?”

Jounouchi smiles at him. “Yeah. More than you know, buddy.”

Hey, he’s got something to remedy here, hasn’t he? “Hey, Yugi!” he says. “We’re friends, right?”

Yugi stares at him slack-jawed. “W-w-we are?!”

 _Of course we are._ You _decided that, when you told Ushio not to hurt me._ He leans down to look Yugi in the eye, because he has to make this good. “I mean, I’d like to be if you’d like to be. Listen, I know I haven’t always been great to you, but —”

Before he can finish, Yugi tackles him with a hug that hits him in the stomach. “I’d love to be your friend, Jounouchi-kun!!”

A massive knot that was settled and twisting in Jounouchi’s chest unwinds.

Alright. He’s got Yugi back in his corner. There’s no way this is going to be a total disaster if they’re working together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The earliest draft version of "Jounouchi feels his expression melt into something warm and soft and sappy" was just "Jounouchi: =u=".
> 
> =ω=


	2. Chapter 2

Honda is dubious about Yugi at first, again, and about Jounouchi’s sudden 180 flip, but Jounouchi _refuses_ to even pretend to be dubious about his best friend just for appearances. Yugi couldn’t take that, not now when he still really has no reason to believe in Jounouchi. Honda will come around again.

Anzu is deeply suspicious, and it’s exactly like the first time except now he knows her well enough to read that that’s what’s driving the unsubtly barbed banter and way she inserts herself into conversations between him and Yug’.

Jounouchi sees that creep Ushio eyeing his bud and recruits a baffled but compliant Honda for a preemptive strike. And he’ll admit, that is _satisfying. Like_ he’s gonna let this _creep_ hurt his buddy _again._ If he’s gotta chance to fix something he’s always regretted, he ain’t gonna take it for granted.

Right after that come the TV assholes, and they’re pretty easy to deal with too, with a little forward planning that makes Honda give him a weird look.

Until he starts bragging about his tactical prowess, which apparently convinces Honda that he’s still normal.

Then he settles back to wait.

So time ticks by, and Yugi...

Doesn’t solve the Puzzle.

Jounouchi realizes, with all the speed you’d expect from his D average, that Yug’ solving the Puzzle was catalyzed by danger and trauma, the pharaoh stepping in right when Yugi needed him and not a moment sooner. And Jounouchi sent Ushio packing.

At this point, he starts to sweat a bit.

“You should take it with you everywhere!” he insists when Yugi finally shows him the disassembled Item. “Haha, what if you get bored, right? And!” He grabs Yugi around the shoulders and swings them both around, half-kneeling and doing a pose with one fist in the air. “You never know when inspiration will strike!” Yugi looks baffled (and a little dizzy), but pleased. Which Jounouchi gets from him a lot.

But that doesn’t seem to be enough, real shocker there, and Jounouchi is coming up against a real conundrum. ‘Cause Yugi _has_ to rescue Atem, who is their _friend_ , but on the other hand Jounouchi isn’t gonna, like, throw his bud off a bridge or something. So he’s kinda at an impasse, yeah?

⏳

One day, Yugi comes to school with bruises. — Jounouchi hadn’t missed _that_ sight.

Jounouchi grips Yugi by the shoulders and offers him retribution. He doesn’t know what happened and that pisses him off, but if he wasn’t any good preventing anything, he can at least offer revenge!

Yugi just smiles and says, “Thank you, Jounouchi-kun, but this is something I have to deal with myself!”

His best friend stares resolutely at him, and Jounouchi catches a glimmer of the strength of will that will come to characterize Yugi.

So he backs off.

Okay, “backing off” might constitute following him after school a couple times. Yugi’s like a magnet for rough types; Jounouchi actually bruises his knuckles on a couple of them. After one stalk-and-spar session that runs particularly late he sleeps through most of the next morning in class. But hey, at least he was still on time!

The next day he’s right as rain again, which is lucky on account of how that day turns out to be important.

⏳

 “Look, I solved it!” Yugi says, and holds up a chunka gold it’s still been weird seeing him without. The eye on the chunk of metal glimmers.

Holy shit, Jounouchi realizes, _my friend’s in there._

Jounouchi tears up, just barely, and then has to look like he hasn’t because why would he? He’s overwhelmed suddenly by how much he missed Atem, and wants to see him _right now._

Well, he’ll show up. Yugi rescued him from that thing, even if he doesn’t know it yet.

Geez, where was the pharaoh exactly when he was in that Puzzle? Was he, like, dormant, or was he awake the whole time? Was it like the Shadow Realm? The Items are made with Shadow magic....

And — Jounouchi got a little bit lost at the end when things started getting seriously loopy, but wasn’t the pharaoh locked up _with Zorc?_

“Jounouchi-kun? You look pretty serious! Is something bothering you?”

Jounouchi forces a jolly grin. “Not at all, buddy!” He reaches over and ruffles his bud’s hair, making Yugi sputter and dance away, the Puzzle swinging around on its rope and winking in the classroom’s artificial light.

⏳

He hears muttering inbetween classes that same day.

“Did you hear about that criminal? The one with the face tattoos.”

“Uh, the one the teacher was talking about _yesterday?_ No, I somehow missed that.”

“Not _that!_ They got ‘im! Well, sorta....”

Oh man, did Jounouchi miss the escaped criminal this time? Shit, no wonder Anzu looked so deep in her head this morning. Is she okay? Can he give her a hug right now without her punching him? ...He can’t. This Anzu will definitely take a swing on reflex. ...He’s gonna hug her anyway, might still help.

He leans back to get closer to the chatty kids. “You mean the guy who set himself on fire?”

“Yeah!” says the gossiper, twisting around to face the fuel for his story Jounouchi has provided. “In that gas station.”

Jounouchi raises an eyebrow. “Uh, you mean in the burger joint?”

Gossipy guy — Toyama? — rolls his eyes. Which Jounouchi takes umbrage to, since he was actually _there._ Sorta. Like, in a way. “No, man, he took somebody _hostage_ in the burger place. He bit it in some gas and gulp, one of those places that sells booze and bread and everything.”

Is this Jounouchi’s fault? Is this because he wasn’t there? But he didn’t do anything! He didn’t even get to _see!_

He really doesn’t get chaos theory.

⏳

“Were you still th — uh — were you there?” Jounouchi asks Yugi. “At the thing at Burger World?”

“Um, yeah.” Yugi’s expression goes very, very clouded. “I’d been wanting to try it out, it’s new.... But then Anzu....” For half a second the clouds become a stormy thunderhead. Then his expression clears completely. “But it’s all fine now!” He waves his arms over his head. “Did you hear about what happened?!”

Then Yugi tells him how he heard the guy was immolated, and all about Anzu’s dreams to dance. Which is lucky, because Jounouchi totally would have forgotten to pretend he didn’t know about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "This is manga canon," I say, acknowledging dub lore practically every other paragraph. I edited and then put back that line referencing the Shadow Realm like. Six times.


	3. Chapter 3

The first time Jounouchi contrives to be somewhere he wasn’t for the first go-around after that, he ends up getting terrified by one of his own best friends.

See, he smells trouble in the air, quashes his sense of propriety and his ability to mind his own business, and follows Yugi. But he can tell when he gets there that he caught up too late to be any use anyway.

He gets there while the pharaoh is in the middle of dealing with the trouble Jounouchi caught wind of. _Dealing with_ , like, scarier than Jounouchi has ever seen him.

A lot of things click in Jounouchi’s head at once. The awful circumstances he was visualizing Atem in. The fact that the guy hadn’t known anything about himself at first. The fact that Jounouchi hadn’t met the pharaoh before he had been around for a pretty long while, considering. The way that bad types around Yugi had so often just seemed to take care of themselves while he was looking the other way.

The number of them who weren’t like Hirutani or the impossible Kaiba brothers, and hadn’t come back for more. Ever.

 _Aw, man, buddy,_ Jounouchi thinks, _at the end when you said you learned compassion from Yugi_ how little were you implying you started out with?

The pharaoh — the other Yugi — laughs, and the low, smooth chuckle sounds like an impending murder.

Jounouchi realizes, at this point, that he didn’t just forget how Yugi was before Atem — he also forgot how crazy and dangerous Atem was before leaning from Yugi.

And really, wasn’t Atem kind of — eurgh — a _ghost?_ A _vengeful_ ghost?

Well, no, that was Bakura’s little parasite. _That_ dick.

Okay, these guys aren’t so great, but he’s gotta stop his bud from doing anything he’ll regret someday. Once he’s learned how to person again from living in Yugi’s brain.

How much of what they all loved and admired about Atem was from Yugi? Not for nothing — he was still Jounouchi’s friend no matter _what_ — but.

“Hey, Yug’.” (He’d said he’d always be Yugi, and he’d _meant_ it.) “I think they’ve had enough, don’t you?”

Yugi turns that crazy stare on Jounouchi. It’s like looking at a predator, and not a tame one. For a second Jounouchi wonders if he’s going to turn on him next just for being there with the rest of the prey.

The other Yugi nods. “You’re right, my friend. I got carried away.” He gestures to the gang on the ground just like a monarch waving. “They aren’t worth it.”

Jounouchi claps him on the shoulder. “Great! Burger?”

The other Yugi eyes him with that fond but detached cat stare. “I would like to try elote.”

Jounouchi thinks he saw a stand that said that on his dash here, in big yellow katakana. Which the other Yugi apparently...took note of? During his vengeance spree? Or Yugi noticed and the other Yugi just knows about it? Argh, this stuff gives him a headache. Maybe the other Yugi was keeping it in his back pocket in case he needed to _murder somebody with their stove._ “Elote it is!” declares Jounouchi, and steers his bitty ghost pal off to find the stand.

By the time he plunks him in front of it, it’s Yugi, staring around blinking dozily like he just woke up there.

He stares at the stand he’s sitting in front of in confusion. What the stand serves is apparently this spicy-smelling corn thing. And also plain old tomorokoshi, which, like, okay, why not.

“You said you wanted elote,” Jounouchi provides, not able to think of any better way to catch him up.

“Uhhh, yeah!” agrees Yugi, beaming at him. Oh, buddy.

Jounouchi orders them two of the special anyway, and Yugi eats his with a considering frown on his face.

Looking him over, it looks like Jounouchi only caught the end of the action in the first place because the other Yugi took a detour back to the game shop to like, change? His shirt? And shoes, maybe, because Jounouchi thinks he would have noticed if Yugi had worn dress shoes instead of the big blocky white sneakers today. But the other Yugi kept the rest of the Domino High uniform, because apparently Yugi’s closet is leaving him that strapped for options right now. Those big ankh things Jounouchi forgot existed are belted to his wrists.

The guy’s such a diva, it’s incredible. The pharaoh is probably completely to blame for Yugi's re-burgeoning incredibly questionable fashion sense. ...Dammit. He’s _right here,_ but Jounouchi’s still remembering him walking through that door and now he’s missing him.

Man. What does Yugi, master tactician, think is worth letting this go by? Does he really think they’ll all ditch him for being crazy, like he had last time?

The idea is depressing. “Hey, Yugi!”

Yugi jumps at Jounouchi’s sudden declaring voice, but, progress, doesn’t wince or flinch. “Yeah, Jounouchi-kun?”

“You know you can tell me anything, right? I won’t stop being friends with you, no matter what!” He keeps going. “Even if you turned out to be possessed, or a crazy murderer! Not talking about anything specific, just saying!”

Yugi blinks at him nonplussed for a sec, then Jounouchi sees rapid reasoning flickering in Yugi’s eyes. His expression flickers reassured, then guilty, then what Jounouchi is pretty sure is self-critical.

Then Jounouchi can’t see Yugi’s expression at all, because Yugi’s looking down at his shoes, the counter, his food. Just down. “Actually, lately...”

Jounouchi bears the silence patiently, waits for Yugi to whisper, _There’s another me._

He accidentally pushed the timeline back by giving Yugi somewhere to land, a support besides an ancient magical artifact, so he has to mediate between them, _fast,_ otherwise they won’t be ready when Pegasus comes calling. Man, Pegasus is still alive right now. That’s weird. Should Jounouchi try to keep him that way? But he doesn’t know how he died in the first place....

He wracks his brain for clues. Everything had been really high-adrenaline and crazy and they’d won and then Pegasus had mysteriously turned up dead.

Nope, he’s got nothin’.

Guess he’ll keep an eye out when the time comes, if it still comes the same way. It might not, cuzza chaos theory or whatever.

“Jounouchi-kun,” starts Yugi, finally getting his spine straight and his thoughts in order or whatever he was doing. “When we became friends...”

In the alley? Oh, in the burger joint. Their first food and game meeting.

Yugi looks up at him with that knowing look that’s purely Yugi. “When you asked me about a player who travels through time — were you talking about you?”

Wow, Yugi is so smart; this didn’t even occur to Jounouchi as a possibility. He’s honestly blindsided.

He scratches his cheek. “Ehe... What gave me away?”

Yugi’s eyes widen, like he’s shocked his guess has been confirmed, and then they _narrow_ and, oh, it’s Atem who’s staring up at Jounouchi.

“How did this happen?” he demands, picking up the conversation like he doesn’t expect Jounouchi to notice. Or maybe like _he_ hasn’t noticed.

Jounouchi has a brief crisis of sanity and scoops Atem up in a crushing hug. The pharaoh makes a surprised little _oof_ sound as he’s crushed against Jounouchi’s chest. It manages to sound suave, somehow. That regal gravitas must be coming back to him already. That was most of Atem’s deal — so much confidence it’s practically a superpower.

He lets him go and brushes off his coat for him.

“Jounouchi-kun,” Atem reminds him.

Jounouchi answers him.

“...I can’t hear you when you have your face in your hands.”

Jounouchi throws his head back and howls, “I said I still don’t know, _okay?!_ ”

There’s a pause, and then Jounouchi is brought down from his melodrama by a tiny hand awkwardly patting him on the shoulder.

He sighs. “Eat your corn.”

Atem, weirdly obedient, mercifully drops it for a second to gnaw on his corn. They both trade gossip trying to figure out what the cheesy stuff on it is.

Jounouchi guesses he won’t push the Puzzle thing. After all, he isn’t in any rush to hustle Atem on to the afterlife.

He and Yugi have at least got a lot to learn from each other! These versions of them... There’s no way they could beat Zorc. The big one. The DnD version they could probably swing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Elote is like a Mexican corn and cheese thing, tomorokoshi is a Japanese corn and miso thing.
> 
> _Why does Yami Yugi have three different character tags._


	4. Chapter 4

The Yugis both keep trying to workshop his whole future-brain thing, and it’s going...weird, as brainstorming sessions with Yug’ go. It seems like the other Yugi knows everything Yugi knows, but Jounouchi has to repeat everything he’s already told the other Yugi for Yugi. Which is difficult to keep track of, because Yugi will pretend he knows what he missed even when he doesn’t. And he’s smart enough to more or less fill it in, so that it’s not until the structure of logic has been built up a few stories that it becomes apparent there’s a missing foundation.

Jounouchi is kind of baffled by how much attention Yugi is giving this before realizing that, hilariously, his time problem is hands down the most interesting thing going on in Yugi’s life right now, at least as long as he’s not aware of Atem. See how long that lasts once Bakura shows up.

Jounouchi’s gotten so _used_ to the wacky magical BS of the week. He has a total disconnect from reality as most people see it in that area.

⏳

Jounouci half-entertains the thought of trying to help Bakura earlier, but he has no idea how to go about finding him. All his thoughts end on dead ends. Can’t call him, the number he has memorized is for somewhere he doesn’t live yet. He thumbs through a phone book without luck — no Bakuras of any kind, even though Jounouchi was on the lookout expecting that if he found anybody it’d be Bakura’s dad. He’s not around, but he must own Bakura’s leases, right? — He doesn’t know his address, even what _prefecture_ he’s in now, can narrow it down to maybe three that are more likely — doesn’t know how to find anybody who knew Bakura before. It always seemed like Bakura’s life before they met him was mostly full of dead and gone people.

So he’ll probably have to wait for him to show up organically. (And sue him, nearly sabotaging Atem there left him a little gun-shy.)

He’s still sure as hell going to be keeping a closer eye on that Spirit of the Ring this time, though.

When you get down to it, he doesn’t know _so much shit_ he never thought he’d have to know! What is Otogi doing? Is there _anything_ he can do about that? Hell, probably not, it’s not like he could ever help _himself_ any....

And ho hum, ho hum, who else has a shitty dad? Only _future billionaire Seto freaking Kaiba._

Or _had_ a shitty dad, because Jounouchi is so busy juggling all the magic stuff he’s probably forgetting that he doesn’t actually remember _this_ until he sees the headline splashed across the Thursday paper.

**CEO FALLS TO DEATH**

In his own defense: Jounouchi is _not_ used to thinking of Kaiba as someone who might need any kind of help.

He skims other coverage as he runs into it — “weapons manufacturer” “engineering mogul” blah. “Untimely” “mysterious circumstances” blah. Nobody’s got a lot to say about Kaiba _Seto_ , the new owner, and what there is isn’t putting much stock in him, him being fifteen and likely havin’ a “future in R&D” or, less charitably, bein’ “slated to be a mere figurehead”.

Ha. Shows what they fuckin’ know.

⏳

Jounouchi’s first thought when he sees Kaiba is...

 _Short..._. he thinks, weirded out. Was Kaiba seriously this short still when they met him? In his mind Kaiba Seto has _always_ been a _giant._ Not a lot of people are taller than Jounouchi. So it was, like, memorable, or something.

Another thing he’d forgotten in the wake of _Kaiba being Kaiba_ is how much _bad crazy_ there was in his eyes back...now. If their Kaiba’s eyes are a clear lake, this one’s are filthy bilgewater.

Also, he keeps _smiling._ _Creepy._

He thinks hard about warning Yugi off Kaiba, but then remembers how steering him away from Ushio put off the arrival of the pharaoh. If Jounouchi steers Kaiba away, him and Yugi may never fight, and...

Kaiba Seto has been a real pain in the butt since the minute the gang met him. Jounouchi doesn’t like the guy, not one bit. Kaiba rubs him the wrong way in every way.

But can he risk leaving him to _languish_ like this, rotting inside, so far from that clear clarity of purpose he’s used to? Leave him the way he was before he bothered the other Yugi enough times that Yugi decided to _fix_ him?

⏳

Yugi gets into Duel Monsters. He brings a few stacks of cards to school, and Jounouchi plays a few games on the desks with him. Figures he’ll take it easy, nontournament skills, right, nothing too suspicious.

Then he notices Yugi’s eyes are practically bugging out of his skull. “Whoa, Jounouchi-kun!” he exclaims, practically vibrating with interest. “I didn’t know you were so good at Duel Monsters!”

Jounouchi blinks down at the desks they’ve shoved together. Yugi was keeping pace with him without appearing to think about it much harder than usual, so he didn’t think it could have been...that good?

“When _did_ you get so good at it?” puts in Anzu.

“Well, I uh. I used to —” Play it when he was a kid? No, it was too new, uh — “I got good from watching Yug’ and his gramps! Duh.”

He’d feel bad if he couldn’t give credit to his teachers, after all.

Yugi, who as far as Jounouchi can tell has been peripherally aware of Duel Monsters for some time but has only just become _actively_ interested in it, blinks blankly at this declaration, and Jounouchi grins an enormous smile at him and hopes its force is strong enough to keep him from commenting.

“Eheh?” offers Jounouchi.

Yugi’s eyes widen to saucer size. So he gets it, great, but Honda is glaring at them both suspiciously.

“I didn’t know you were already into nerd junk like this,” he finally says. “Huh, guess you and Yugi were always two peas in a pod after all!”

“You’re just jealous because you suck at this game,” snipes Anzu, who is still glowing from her own winning streak. She could have a backup career in this if there were any reality where she’d ever settle for one. She’s sure better than Jounouchi was supposed to be at this time, and on no practice, too. But while she’s plenty smart she doesn’t _love_ it, he’s guessing, same as not every person who could becomes a scientist or whatever.

“Hey!” exclaims Honda, rounding on her, and that’s him distracted. Thank everything for Anzu, ready to fight everybody and everything at any time.

⏳

Kaiba wanders over to their table, which stands out on accounta how since he transferred in Kaiba hasn’t exactly been spending lunches socializing. He’s been spending them looking over weird shit he brings with him, reading — not always uppity shit, a lot of it’s weird magazines — or staring vacantly into the middle distance like he wants it to die.

His mouth is bent to approximate smiling faintly at the general assemblage, but he’s staring at their game like he’s trying to burn a hole in it. Jonuouchi suppresses the urge to cover the cards with his hands to protect them from Kaiba’s laser magma vision.

Jounouchi doesn’t remember this happening last time when he came over to watch them play, but Kaiba’s creepy lizard stare skitters over to Jounouchi, down to his side of the field, back. “Are these even your cards?” he says.

“No,” grits Jounouchi. He’s _lost_ his cards, _asshole._

Mini-Kaiba scoffs, and then turns away from him to Yugi. What the hell.

Jounouchi stares at him as Kaiba fake-beams at their group in general, but mostly Yugi. Behind the smile, it looks like he hasn’t slept in — ever. The creases under his eyes are _intense._

Having extracted a promise from Yugi, Kaiba notices Jounouchi’s staring. He turns his regard back on him, and then, _oh god,_ more fake smiling, _at him._

“Is there something on my face, Jounouchi-kun?” he asks, his face...crinkling. Into shapes.

Can Jounouchi help it if he grimaces? _Don't call me my name with a cheerful honorific, you_ bastard! _That's the ultimate insult!_

Kaiba’s “pleasant” face remains “pleasant” at Jounouchi's inability to muster up a fitting answer for this twisty upside-down bullshit. It doesn’t seem very responsive, restricted to being on or slipping off. It’s like dealing with somebody in a literal mask, any genuine expression out of sight and eyes that you can just tell don't match the rest.

“Hnh,” Kaiba says, through that tiny smile-shaped thing. “You’re not bad, I guess. But you need stronger cards.”

Jounouchi’s gonna wring his creepy neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've seen Bakura, Bakura, and Bakura referred to as "Bakurae" and let me tell you, not using that plural was almost physically difficult.
> 
> Kaiba is a transfer student because there’s nothing explicity _saying_ he’s not, and because I like the White Uniform of Otherness effect in the first anime and the easy explanation for why we never saw this kid around before. (Can you imagine him lurking in a crowd scene with Hanasaki, like, I don't.)
> 
> I've gathered that some people are expecting this to be a full series rewrite. I don't want to disclose exactly where I'm aiming it, but in the interest of not disappointing people: not there.


	5. Chapter 5

Jounouchi _knows_ that bastard Kaiba, and also he likes to think his instincts are pretty good, thanks. So of course he smells the rat. Its source: the malignant aura emanating from the pits peeking out from under Kaiba’s hair where your eyes are supposedta be.

So knowing there’s gonna be trouble, Jounouchi...deliberately lets Yugi wander off, says goodbye to Honda, starts a goodbye to Anzu before he remembers she isn’t expecting one, sigh, and starts off for home with his head down.

“I’m _not_ gonna interfere!” he announces to the street. A little old lady sweeping her front porch squints suspiciously at him. He flips her off.

“ _Not_ gonna interfere, no siree, not me,” he chants, picking up the pace and hopping to avoid breaking his neck tripping over a skateboard some kid left in the middle of the sidewalk.

“Nope! Not gonna interfere! I ain’t no meddler, not today,” he grits, stomping maybe harder than is necessary.

“I’m nooooot...” He pauses, rocking his weight on one heel, then spins on it and takes off back the way he came. “— _Dammit!_ ”

He kicks a can. It goes crashing into a shop window, bounces off, and nearly wings him for his trouble.

 _Here’s hoping that’s not a metaphor or something_ , he thinks as he speed-walks back the way he came, cursing all the way.

⏳

Jounouchi gets back to the school, gasping, literally just in time for Kaiba to take a swing at Yugi with his briefcase.

 _Leave it to fucking Kaiba,_ he thinks, even as he catches it on his arm. It _stings,_ mother _fucker._ Doesn’t Kaiba know that’s not what briefcases are for?

Actually, Jounouchi wouldn’t put it past Kaiba to have picked this thing out with an eye to which material would make the best blunt weapon. “Ah ah ah!” he chides, and summons up a shit-eating grin. “Mind your manners, kiddo. Don’t do something you’ll regret later.”

Though when he says that, he’ll admit: He’s kind of thinking about Kaiba’s delicate card-player’s hands neatly ripping a card in two. Which is the kind of transgression Jounouchi wouldn’t even _imagine_ , as an option, if he had a card in his hand. Any card.

Right now those fingers are clenched around that card, pressed hard enough that they’d crinkle it if the hold were any different.

Well, that’s no way to hold a card! So Jounouchi grabs his wrist.

Gently.

Kaiba hisses in pain and his hand spasms. Okay, well, maybe not _that_ gently. But forget the means, the end is that Kaiba loosens that deadly grip, and Jounouchi snags the Blue Eyes from his twitching fingers. Mission accomplished. He ducks neatly out of Kaiba’s grabbing range. Which is easier than he’s still expecting, ‘cause Kaiba isn’t a towering praying mantis man yet. Jounouchi actually skips back a couple feet too far and probably looks pretty stupid, but eh, them’s the breaks.

Pre-growth-spurt Kaiba _looks_ _wrong_ in a way nobody else really does. Anzu’s a little ganglier, Honda’s not quite as broad, and Yugi obviously has almost no idea who he is yet in a way that throws off his bearing like anything, but Kaiba looks _stunted._ His hands are perfectly normal but they’re _Kaiba’s_ hands and they should be like menacing murder spiders so normal they look _chunky._

Also, Jounouchi plain shouldn’t be able to see the top of Kaiba’s head. It’s _unnatural._

Though Jounouchi knows that when he ran up he was looking at Yugi, the eyes watching Jounouchi approvingly now already have the hard glint that means they’re the pharaoh’s. Yugi’s scrawny shoulders in his uniform shirt are too straight. Atem nods at Jounouchi, a gesture between warriors. Jounouchi tucks the card into his breast pocket, knowing Atem, despite not saying anything, has entrusted him with it.

(Heehee, Jounouchi got to touch an ultra-rare dragon card with his _bare motherfucking hands._ He’s having a religious experience right now, no wonder Kaiba is practically married to these things.

His Red Eyes is better though! Naturally.)

Atem turns on Kaiba. “Kaiba... You sought to pilfer something dear to my grandfather’s soul. For that, I shall punish you!”

Oh, thank god Big Yugi is easily offended. He’s basically gonna start a shadow game over offended sensibilities, but whatever! Just kick off the fixing Kaiba Seto domino chain! The guy always pisses Jounouchi off but right now he’s _creeping him out._

“A game,” Atem continues. “Your game. Duel Monsters.”

“Why should I play a game with the likes of you?” Kaiba asks Atem, looking only a bit put off by Yugi’s unexplained change of countenance. “I saw your game. It was barely worth watching.”

“Oh, it will be worth the winner’s while,” says Atem, watching his someday-rival like a snake charming prey. He holds out a hand to Jounouchi.

It takes him a second. “What, seriously?” he hisses at Yugi, trying to talk to just him. Kaiba is like four feet away so it doesn’t really work.

“I am certain, my friend,” says Atem, finally turning to him. For just a second he flicks his commander-of-men vibe on full.

Jounouchi, still not very happy about it, tugs the Blue Eyes card back out of his pocket and slips it into Yugi’s waiting hand. It’s kind of like handing over a baby. Does that comparison make him a bad person? It’s not like he means any disrespect to human babies.

Yugi brandishes the card with a flourish, fully aware of, if not its full value, the worth it holds in Kaiba’s eyes. “If you win, naturally you can have my rarest card.” He fishes the deck Yugi brought to class out of a his pants pocket — and Atem in Jounouchi’s mind is like, _the_ ‘I have a pouch for this, also it’s on a belt, and I keep my belts on a belt’ guy, even more’n Mai, so that’s bizarre to see. He slips the dragon into his deck and shuffles it in with a brisk but thorough overhand. Kaiba’s eyes follow it the whole way, the greed visible on his face.

“Well, in that case...” he says.

“But if _I_ win, Kaiba, you’ll come to understand my grandfather’s words!” the other Yugi declares, fixing Kaiba with a pointed finger.

Kaiba stares at him like he doesn’t really get it, snapped only halfway out of his covetous reverie. Which, yeah, but also, seeing him _not_ look at Yugi (or Yugi) like he’s by default one of the most important things in the vicinity? Hella surreal. Even when Kaiba is dismissing Yugi, Jounouchi is used to, like. It being obvious how important he thinks declaring Yugi’s unimportance is. Hell, the Kaiba he’s used to even dismisses Jounouchi with more care and attention than this Kaiba is putting into vaguely humoring Yugi.

“Fine,” he agrees, completely lacking appropriate gravity. But who wouldn’t be, without seeing for themselves what a declaration like _you’ll understand_ means coming from the other Yugi?

⏳

Jounouchi really lets Yug’ go then. There are a few hours of radio silence, which Jounouchi tries to pass chilling, because what else can he do? Periodically he considers the merit of trying really hard to send Yugi good vibes, because it’s not like it hasn’t been helpful before. Mostly he ends up finding a balance between those extremes by fretting, Finally, the other Yugi comes back, triumphantly flourishing the Blue Eyes card.

He just hands it to Jounouchi when he sees him peering at it, which is a sort of ridiculous display of trust since Kaiba tried to steal it, today, within the last twenty-four hours — possibly multiple times? But that’s Yugi for you.

Jounouchi smiles at it. Yeah, it’s Kaiba’s signature card, but Jounouchi can respect a good monster when he sees it.

He frowns, as Yugi’s attention drifts elsewhere. It’s fine _now,_ but Kaiba ripped this up, didn’t he? He’s so fucked up and twisted inside he’s forgotten what he’s all about, and he doesn’t see a reason not to do something like that.

Jounouchi stares at the card, melancholy now. They’re like, magic, right? So even though in the end it was just a card, destroying one, especially when there were only four, was just...not on.

“You deal with the jerk alright?” Jounouchi asks Yugi, shoving this thought to the backburner to let his brain work on it.

Atem nods firmly. Looks like it’s still him! The spirit’s not peacing out the second trouble clears up quite as fast lately, but it’s still like dealing with a skittish cat.

“Cool,” says Jounouchi, falling into step beside him in a slight slouch. “Wanna grab burgers? Or, wait.” Huh. “What kinda food do you like, buddy?” He doesn’t know if Atem’s favorite is the same as Yugi’s, and he feels like he’s gotta ask in case it isn’t.

The other Yugi looks pleased but somewhat lost at being asked. “...There’s a place that serves tamiya nearby,” he says, gracing Jounouchi with a perplexed smile.

Jounouchi doesn’t know what that is, but sure. “Then I’m buying!” he announces cheerfully.

“We should split the bill,” declares Yugi.

“Like men!”

They fist bump. Dorky stuff with Atem always feels super cool to participate in: It’s such a perk of knowing him.

Atem seems to know where they’re going, and trots a couple steps ahead of Jounouchi with his hands in Yugi’s pockets until he stops in front of an itty-bitty basement-level establishment. Its depressed door is tucked down a half-flight of stairs practically out of sight, where you’d totally miss it if you didn’t know it was there.

Jounouchi follows Atem through a flap — which he has to push aside to keep it out of his face and the other Yugi just strides right under; honestly, only this guy could make being tall feel like the awkward thing. He’s immediately hit in the face by air that smells like Middle Eastern spices and is warm from nearby cooking, nice but nose-prickling. It makes him think of being in the Memory World, honestly.

The other Yugi mutters to the girl at the counter, who beams toothily at them and brings them...

Jounouchi looks down at his plate. “These are burgers.”

Atem takes a huge bite. “This dish is vegetarian.”

Jounouchi takes a more conservative bite of his and gets a wave of spices and garlic. Definitely reminds him of the food from the streets in Egypt. It’s good, but there’s no denying it.

The other Yugi’s favorite food is Egyptian burgers.

“You’re a funny guy, Yug’,” says Jounouchi, laughing.

“Hm?” Atem hums around a mouthful of whatever this patty is, looking at him curiously.

“It’s nothin’,” says Jounouchi, smiling and shaking his head.

⏳

“So, dude,” says Jounouchi, unsure how to chew his way over to his question. “Can we talk? I’ve kind of noticed that you go hard as hell all the time. What’s up with that?”

Atem stares at him — the attention less danger, more dork. “Hard as hell,” he repeats. Kinda like _what is this gibberish you speak_ , kinda like he’s making a note and saving it up for later.

Jounouchi waves a hand as he tries to find the words. “You know, really intense! Like how you’re always betting your life all the time.” And Jounouchi isn’t sure if he’s trying some sort of doublespeak since he’s already dead and isn’t really Yugi, or if he’s that confident, or...

That careless.

Atem for his part seriously considers this, and stares broodingly at his patty thing.

He puts a hand to his chest, attention turned inward. “I...fear that if I lose, I will lose my place in this world. That I’ll...disappear.” He nods. “And there is no reason not to acknowledge that in the stakes I set.”

Accurate (dammit, heart, _you can’t grieve somebody you’re sitting next to_ ), but not in a way that actually applies to how he’s been carrying on. “Uh, dude, do you have any reason to believe your presence is conditional.”

He wags a finger. “Ah, I have none to believe it’s _not._ ”

“That’s not...”

What is Jounouchi gonna do with this guy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Significant parts of my first-first draft of this whole Kaiba thing were unusable because, having consumed every version of his time as an antagonist in all their wildly varying glory, I misremembered the actual sequence of events.
> 
> I will literally never be enough of a purist to call the card game Magic and Wizards. ... I feel like I just jinxed myself.
> 
> I've noticed that every time I get a comment on this like, "You did [thing] well," I go, "That's because I LOVE [thing]! Here is an unsolicited essay about [thing]." I just love _Yu-Gi-Oh_ a lot, you guys.
> 
> Edit: This author's note is the longest yet because I kept feeling like I was forgetting something, and now I've remembered: Yami Yugi's favorite food really is officially tamiya, tamiya really is both Egyptian and considered a burger equivalent, and when I learned this I swear I went through the five stages of grief. You really got me with this one, Takahashi.


End file.
